ACPO lie detector trials.

ACPO Ltd are trialling lie detectors for criminal suspects and in particular those suspected of being sex offenders.Who could possibly argue with those scummy perverts and crims having to undertake a lie detector test .
Well lets just consider a few things before making a decision on whether this is a welcome addition to the fight against crime or another stride on the road towards a Police state.

Firstly unaccountable undemocratic ACPO is a private company and has no powers to decide whether lie detectors are introduced or not-only parliament can do that.So the use of lie detectors without parliamentary approval is dodgy to say the least.
Secondly there has been a good reason why lie detectors have not been approved for Police use before.That reason is that they have not been proved to be effective in detecting whether people are telling the truth which is a pretty basic requirement for a lie detector.The technology is old and is no better than it was in the 60s and dependent on the interpretation of the data by a biased operator provided by or paid by ACPO.
Thirdly this means that the right to silence and innocence until proven guilty is consigned to the dustbin marked Police state.Even though you may be completely innocent of any allegations you will be considered guilty if you refuse a lie detector test or if you "fail" the test that is proven to be accurate  only 25% of the time.So the fact that you may be innocent is meaningless because you are considered guilty whether the machine operator says yes or no or indeed whether you say yes or no.The odds dont look good when you consider you will be considered to be guilty of something if you refuse to take the test and if you agree to take the test there is a 75% chance of being told you are a liar and in denial of your crimes.
Taking into account these points it would appear that ACPO is jackbooting its way to putting the cherry on the cake of the proto Police state that we already live in.

I hear people saying well what does it matter they are trialling it on perverts so who cares.Well hang on there these people are totally innocent until proven guilty in a Court of Law.Like all things it will be accused perverts today but you tomorrow facing Russian roulette odds with a lie detector because you did 33mph in a 30 limit or heaven forbid touched a mobile phone whilst sitting in a stationary car.Would you fancy face losing your licence andyour living on the say of an electronic beeper controlled by a fully paid up member of the stasi.
It doesnt take an enormous leap of imagination to see people being pulled off the street by jackbooted policy officers to undertake a lie detector because the local stasi informer has accused you of a thought or hate crime.
Dont fall into the trap of thinking that accused sex offenders deserve anything they get because that is a big mistake.People can easily be accused of a sex crime ( I know someone who was maliciously accused of a sexual assault despite the fact that they didnt even know or had even met the accused) so remember it could be you.

ACPO  have declared war on us all with these proposals and unless they are resisted we will all be screwed by the box that goes beep.